Having just quit my own job, I was ready to sink my teeth into a fictional workplace drama that I was not personally invested in. 'Tell Me A Secret' fit the script brilliantly - pun intended - and I must say, Jane Fallon nailed this one. Set soon after the protagonist, Holly, gets a promotion, 'Tell Me A Secret' tells the story of peer-rivalry; work friendships; girl friendships and all the grey areas in between. Remember when I said I fully intended not to get so stuck in to office drama? Well, Jane Fallon made sure that was not the case. Never have I been so infuriated by the protagonist as I have with Holly. She is lovely, caring, and trusting to a fault, and half the time I wanted to grab her by the shoulders and shake her into reality but had I done so, this would have been shorter than a children's book. I can't say I loved the final 'human' twist, pleading with the reader to empathise with the villain, but that aside, all the twists before it were well worth the read.

Holly and Rob both work for a long runn8ng soap opera. Holly applies for and secures a promotion and suddenly things start to go wrong! But it couldn’t be Roz could it? After all Roz is her friend. Roz is married to a rich man! Roz has a dream life filled with celebrity, fine dining and glamorous holidays. Roz didn’t want the job and didn’t even apply for the job. So it must be Juliet, Holly has never liked Juliet so she is probably the one behind all these incidents.
In her private life, Holly has decided to take in a lodger so she can help out her daughter financially, and she goes through s slightly dubious selection process with her best friend. However, lodger selected and duly installed Holly is looking forward to an easier and more streamlined life.
Bit life has other plans.
Holly must figure out who has it in for her, why and where they are getting 8nfor action from. And her best mate - who is very fond of conspiracy theories - is there to help!

Tell Me a Secret is about trust, friendship, insecurity and compassion. A compelling story with a clever twist and I really warmed to the characters, they are very real if a little zany!

I have read other books by Jane Fallon and this one proved to be as good as the others. The story may be a little far-fetched but it is well told and has interesting characters. The setting within the team behind a "continuing drama series" was interesting. The friendships and rivalries are well described, although at times some of the characters might seem slightly paranoid but this is sometimes justified. Recommended.

Another great read from Jane Fallon, a modern day tale of friendships - good and bad. Refreshing to have a story that focuses on women and their relationships with men taking second stage. Even once you know who the baddie is there are still twists & turns to keep you reading to the very end.

Keeps you guessing till the last page

Tell Me a Secret is set against the backdrop of the world behind a television series, a world that is mostly unknown. The author is a real-life television producer, and her experience is evident as she paints a fascinating picture of the television industry and how the storylines are developed.

Holly Cooper has been promoted to script executive on a long-standing television series, and although she has her probation period to complete, she is excited about the future and a new challenge. Then things start to go wrong at work, and her promotion hangs in the balance. At first, a flirty email to her boss that she did not send, then her diary is tampered with, and then she provokes a cast member's wrath by responding to a post-it left on her desk. Could these incidents be innocent pranks or something more sinister?

Both of her colleagues, Juliet and Roz, also applied for the promotion. However, her best friend Roz lied about her application. Slowly, a web of lies and deceit is uncovered as Holly's best friend Dee and her husband Gav turn detective to help Holly stem the tide of damaging emails that are being sent from her computer, despite password changes.

And where does Holly’s new lodger Hattie fit into the picture? At first, she seems to be the ideal housemate, quiet and unobtrusive, but as Holly begins to confide in Hattie, things at work escalate.

When Holly gets proof that her best friend Roz is sabotaging her, she goes on an all-out campaign to clear her name and prove that Roz is behind it all.

I really enjoyed the glimpse into how a television series is produced from the writer's point of view and how the cast and the writers are often at odds with one another. I also enjoyed the pace of the novel, and the ending was great. I was never quite sure how the story would pan out, but I was hoping that Holly would come out on

Gillian

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

Oh Boy! this can be so true to office life it made me shudder!
Holly is on a three month probationary period after being promoted to her dream job, now effectively having to be a manager to her previous office colleagues; one of which is her best friend Roz. Strange things start happening to undermine Holly's apparent ability to cope with her new position but, she's clever, inventive, and thinks on her feet, and survives several VERY close-shaves cleverly written with a tinge of humour. However, the story highlights the emotional turmoil and even paranoia that covert and subversive actions can generate. The saying of keeping friends close, but enemies closer still, is very evident.
The author's characterisation was superb; the interjection of seemingly unimportant family matters and the need for Holly to find a lodger, were integral parts of a complex story, which only unfolds in its true glory at the end.
Thoroughly enjoyable read.
Thank you to NetGalley and Publishers.

A Jane Fallon book is a sure fire good read, and this one must be one of her best. Characters are all well described and a great story with some parts making me giggle out loud. . I loved this book and read it very quickly. Highly recommended .

This is a seriously good read. Seriously good as in I read it in one sitting and stayed up well past my bedtime. It's one of those books that is cleverly written to make you keep turning the pages and I couldn't wait to find out how it all turned out. If you read nothing else this year then make sure this book is on your list. Dealing with office politics, friendship and family relationships, this book will suck you into Holly's life and it won't let you go until the last page. Even then you will find yourself thinking about the characters. Seriously good I tell you!

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I have only discovered Jane’s books fairly recently. I have read two of them so far and absolutely loved both although I know that I have a fair few other books to catch up on. Book addict me says ‘yippee’, my purse just says ‘oh dear’. Anyway I digress so back to the review I go. You can imagine my excitement when I was asked if I would like to take part in the blog tour for ‘Tell Me A Secret’. After the squealing had finished, I did a little happy dance, which was thankfully only witnessed by my two Labradors. Of course I said yes and I eagerly opened the book and began to read. Well I absolutely, totally, flipping well loved ‘Tell Me A Secret’ but more about that in a bit.
I couldn’t help but take to the character of Holly Cooper from the first moment I met her. She is an ambitious young woman, who has received a long overdue promotion. You would think that her friends would be happy for her but that is so not the case as regards one particular character. Appearances can be very deceptive. When things start going wrong for Holly, I couldn’t help but want to jump inside the pages of the book to give Holly a hug to reassure her and to attack her back stabbing friend by giving her a few dozen slaps across the face with a wet fish. Holly is nice, kind, gentle, compassionate, supportive and she seems to be the sort of person I could imagine having a cup of tea and a gossip with. She seems to be a huge support to her other friends and above all to her daughter, who has discovered that she is pregnant. Holly seems to spend that much time running around and looking everybody else, that her own needs seem to be way down the list of her own priorities. Holly could do the job standing on her head but somebody manipulates certain situations to case Holly in a bad light. I don’t want to type too much about who does what and when because I don’t want to give too much away.
Oh my giddy aunt I was hooked on ‘Tell Me A Secret’ from the very first word on the very first page and reading the book soon became an addiction. I found it simply impossible to put the book down because I was enjoying it so much. I loved everything about the book from the author’s writing style to the storylines to the characters and beyond. I didn’t realise just how quickly I was reading this book until I happened to look at the page number I was on and realised that I had actually read over half of the book. From then on, I tried to ration how much I read in one reading burst but my attempts at rationing failed because I just had to read on and on and so on. It seemed to take me next to no time to get through the book but in reality it took me a few hours to get through the book. The time and page numbers just seemed to fly past in a blur.
In my opinion ‘Tell Me A Secret’ is superbly written. The author has one of those writing styles that draws you in from the start and it feels as though you are actually part of the story yourself. That’s how I felt anyway. The author clearly cares about her characters and this shines through in her writing. She describes her characters so vividly and so realistically that it was almost as if the characters jumped off the page and came to life. I found that I genuinely cared about Holly and what happened to her. Indeed I felt as though she had become a friend and felt very protective of her. I usually have the attention span of a gnat but not in this case because my sole focus was on the book itself and I was able to shut out all other distractions.
In short, I simply adored reading ‘Tell Me A Secret’ and I would definitely recommend this book and indeed this author to other readers. I find Jane’s books to be fun and light hearted and above all they are extremely addictive reading. I can’t wait to read what Jane Fallon comes up with next. I, for one, will be first in the queue to read it. In the meantime I will definitely be getting copies of all of Jane’s other books and make reading them one of my top reading priorities. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 5* out of 5*.

A great book, well written, set within an office environment. You instantly fall in love with the main character Holly, a single mum and a script writer . She gets a promotion and her team celebrates , or do they ?
The fact that she was originally part of the team and the shifting dynamics when she becomes boss are explored thoroughly by Jane Fallon.
The book followed her probationary period and the realisation that one of her friends/workmates is out to make a fool of her and sabotage her career.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, the twists and turns of the plot. The big question of who was behind it all ?
All the characters were believable , Dee, Holly’s best friend was a great character full of emotional support when Holly needed it and always there!
I would recommend this book
Thank you very much to Penguin books and @netgalley for allowing me an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review

Tell Me A Secret by Jane Fallon is a contemporary tale surrounding the theme of relationships that will certainly have you glued and guessing.
The book is about friendships. It seems like a pleasant chick lit novel at first but then the psychological element kicks in and it is definitely the bunny boiler delivered with a smile. The action soon becomes menacing and the reader, like the main character, wonders which way to turn.
Friendships should be the place where we go to feel safe and loved. What do you do when the rug is pulled out from under you?
Truth and lies run throughout the story. Can you separate them?
There is the theme of manipulation, so expertly done, will you spot it?
Friends emerge in the most unlikely of places. The heroes and heroines are not always instantly recognisable.
Tell Me A Secret is a cleverly constructed novel that draws you in from the start and grips your emotions. There were times when I wanted to leap inside the book and scream at a character whilst standing up for another one. This book really tugged at the nurturing, protective side of me that wanted to see justice done. Brilliant. Thank you Jane Fallon for a fabulous tale. I want much more by you.
I received this book for free. A favourable review was not required and all views expressed are my own.

We all have a best friend at work but when you start to doubt her then the going gets a bit rough as Holly is about to find out. Why is Roz being like this or is it someone else, questioning everyone in her head Holly starts to regret taking the promotion. Then when her new lodger seems too good to be true and more strange things start to happen, Holly does not know who to trust.
This will keep you enthralled as you try to work it all out, with a few surprises along the way. Thank you for giving me the chance to read and review.

A light hearted, entertaining read. A story about the workplace, encompassing promotions, rivalry and friendship. The author captures the spirit of the workplace and everyone can surely relate to this tale

A very gentle, easy going whodunit that made great reading.

I loved the character Dee, who was larger than life and very funny.

A wonderful enjoyable read.

What steps is someone willing to take to wreck a colleagues promotion?
I liked the storyline and found the characters interesting.

A contemporary revenge novel, that has a multi-layered plot, an authentic setting and complex characters. There is an underlying undercurrent of menace in this story as Holly's career and life are threatened, but will anyone believe her?

It's easy for the reader to believe in this storyline, most people who have worked in an office setting have witnessed office politics at some point in their career, and it's not hard to imagine what Holly experiences. Betrayal is an important theme of this story, and it adds impact to the injustices she suffers because Holly is betrayed by someone she should be able to trust.

Although the action is focused on a few characters the vibrant setting and the fast pace make this page-turning, as you want to see what happens next and who will come out the victor. In addition to the main plot, there are parallel friendships, which showcase what good friends really are. Holly's relationship with her daughter is nicely written and emphasises why her career is so important to her.

I received a copy of this book from Penguin UK-Michael Joseph via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Holly is super pleased when she gets her dream job, but then things start happening which soon knocks the smile from her face. Someone isn't happy, in fact someone is extremely unhappy about this decision, but why? This isn't my favourite Jane Fallon book and thought it was a bit over long for what actually happens. Not really a fan of the sort of workplace this story is based on either, but as always, it was well written, entertaining with several laugh out loud moments too.

Jane Fallon is the absolute master of telling tales about toxic friendships. And yet, her books are never same-y. They're always fresh and original and I was so excited to dive into Tell Me A Secret. There's just something about a toxic friendship that makes me smile in my loneliness and want to scream at people, "THIS IS WHY I DON'T HAVE FRIENDS". Because, here's the thing, a lot of the time (for me, anyway) friends aren't friends. They talk behind your back, leave you out of things, don't get in touch, and it's like what's the point and that is soooooo apparently in Tell Me A Secret, where Holly is pretty much treated like crap because she got a promotion ahead of a colleague, like get a grip, support your friend, stop being a cow.


It is fairly impressive that people can take a promotion as something to take way beyond the realms of personal, as Roz does in Tell Me A Secret. Here's the thing: three people going for one job is always going to end up with two people being hurt and you kinda just have to take it on the chin, especially if you purport to be someone's friend. It's not as if Holly swanned into the job with no experience, she had paid her dues for three years which while not as long as Roz (or Juliet), was obviously good enough to be promoted ahead of them both and when things started to go wrong for Holly, I felt awful, because you like to think you can trust your work friends. Even if they're just work friends.


I really liked Holly. She was a fab narrator and the way she handled herself was so incredibly impressive. I am a wuss, I would have just ended up letting what happened happen, without doing anything about it, because I am a grade-A mug. But Holly was so competent at her job and I just wanted to punch Roz's lights out for wanting to ruin something that was so wonderful. You could see how isolating it got for Holly as Roz froze her out without word, and got people onto her side, and made Holly look ridiculous and it was just like a car crash and I felt awful. Here's the thing: Holly wasn't perfect especially in regards to Juliet, but I felt like amends were made whereas Roz was unrepentant.


I really, really enjoyed Tell Me A Secret. Dee, Holly's friend, was absolutely fabulous. Shes the kind of friend Roz should have been and I loved her long-winded tales and her lack of a filter and the silly things she would believe from her own work colleagues. I liked that she never questioned Holly when Holly told her what was going on and instead went above and beyond to help Holly to clear her name. It made my heart happy.


Jane Fallon is such a fantastic writer. I love that she's back on a book-a-year schedule because I look forward to her new releases each January, I just know I'm going to get a thought-provoking look into female friendship. Tell Me A Secret is yet another brilliant read from Jane Fallon and I already can't wait for next year's book (no pressure, Jane!)

TV script editor Holly has just been promoted but her happiness is cut short when she notices that someone in the office is trying to sabotage her. From false messages to inappropriate emails to her boss, it’s clear to Holly that someone doesn’t want her to succeed in her new job. Is it Juliet, her rival for the promotion? Or is it Roz, her friend and colleague who knows her secrets and who she thought she could trust?
I do love Jane Fallon’s novels and am always looking forward to reading any new stories from her. She always creates strong, relatable and likable women who stand up for themselves and fight for what is theirs, be it their husbands, boyfriends, or, as in this case, their jobs. Holly is a single mother who raised her daughter all on her own. Her only support is her best friend Dee, who is a character I really liked because of her witticism and her loyalty, and Holly turns to Dee for help in stopping her opponent.
There was suspense as, like Holly, you’d never know what would happen next, what kind of mischief was awaiting her in the office. If you are looking for romance, there is none in this novel. Instead, it’s a story about friendship, deceit and jealousy, and it’s full of twists and turns that will keep you glued to the page. This addictive and engaging novel is another win for Jane Fallon and I highly recommend it as the perfect read to start the new year.